Police departments across the United States were reporting outages in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma and California at one point. They used social media to urge people to call departments' main telephone lines instead of 911.

"AT&T is experiencing a nationwide outage which is affecting 911 calls" posted the DC Police Department. "Please call 202-373-3700 ext 2 if you have an emergency or text 911."

But using the non-emergency lines meant callers' locations were not visible to dispatchers, as officials noted in Arlington, Texas.

"Our ability to see the location of a 911 caller is not available on the non-emergency line, so please give your address," posted the Arlington Fire Department.